Graduate Courses

Critical analysis of early 20th century philosophical movements such as phenomenology, structuralism, and hermeneutics, emphasizing their origins and the philosophical and non-philosophical issues that gave rise to them. Prer., previous course in philosophy. Meets with PHIL 4040.

An intensive examination of the major European philosophical movements of the mid 20th century, including phenomenology, existentialism, linguistics and post-structuralism, emphasizing their relation to key philosophical and non-philosophical issues of the period. Prer., previous philosophy course. Meets with PHIL 4060.

Main themes of existentialist thought from its origins in Kierkegaard and Nietzsche to such 20th century figures as Jaspers, Heidegger, Sartre and Camus. Meets with PHIL 4070.

An intensive examination of major figures, such as Irigaray, Deleuze, Baudrillard, Habermas, Foucault and Derrida, and of major movements such as critical theory. Meets with PHIL 4080.

Analysis and appreciation of America's most important contribution to intellectual life, pragmatism. Also discussed are two of pragmatism's predecessors, transcendentalism and naturalism. Meets with PHIL 4100.

The philosophical significance of ecology for establishing an environmental ethic. Application of environmental ethics to such issues as responsibilities to future generations, the problem of the moral standing of non-human species and wilderness, and the deficiencies of cost-benefit basis for decision making. Prer., Previous course in philosophy. Meets with PHIL 4140.

Designed to teach students to appreciate the ethical discussions of the decision-making process in which most business managers are engaged during their careers. Meets with PHIL 4160.

Consideration of major philosophers, both classical and contemporary, who have contributed to the analysis of the nature, limits and conditions of knowledge. Meets with PHIL 3170.

The problem of rational justification of ethical standards including a selected treatment of the history of ethics. Meets with PHIL 4150.

Consciousness has re-emerged as a fundamental topic in psychology, neuroscience, cognitive science, and philosophy. This course introduces students to some of the recent neuroscientific studies of consciousness and surveys some of the philosophical problems posed by consciousness. Meets with PHIL 4200.

In-depth examination of a particular trend in contemporary social theory such as critical theory, the Frankfurt school, Marxism and post-Marxism, economic democracy, deep ecology, post-modernism and deconstruction. Variable content. Meets with PHIL 4250.

Consideration of various views of the nature of law, its role in society and its relation to other disciplines. Examination of the philosophic commitments that underlie and affect legal convention and procedures. Meets with Phil 4260.

Consideration of the central problems in the philosophy of mind, including the mind-body problem; the knowledge of other minds; free will and determinism; as well as discussion of concepts such as action, intention, motive, desire, memory, etc. Meets with PHIL 3000.

'Analytic Philosophy' is a term used to describe both a particular method and a style of philosophizing. This course examines that method and that style and shows the promise the former once held for settling traditional philosophical issues and problems and the continuing influence of the latter. Meets with PHIL 4350.

A close examination of issues in the history, philosophy, and sociology of science. Attention will be given to contemporary debates on such topics as the methodology of science, the growth of scientific knowledge, the logic of scientific discovery and the value-neutrality of science. Meets with PHIL 4400.

An intermediate course in symbolic logic that introduces students to quantified predicate logic with identity, intensional logic, second-order logic, and many-valued logic. Certain meta-logical results such as the Loewenheim-Skolem theorem, completeness, soundness, computability, Church's thesis, and incompleteness are discussed. Meets with PHIL 4420.

An exposition of the ideas and techniques of modern symbolic logic including several formal systems to distinguish between valid and invalid arguments and discussion of the foundations of arithmetic and set theory. Meets with PHIL 3440.

An examination of the meaning of human nature from various perspectives including Greek thinking, religious explanations, naturalist, existentialist and pragmatist theories.

A historical survey of developments in philosophy of language. Topics covered include sense and reference, signifier and signified, rule-following, ordinary language philosophy, deconstruction, and casual theories of reference. Authors covered include Frege, Husserl, De Saussure, Wittgenstein, Austin, Derrida, and others. Meets with PHIL 4490.

Relation between philosophical issues and film to, show how philosophical concepts are embodied in film and filmmaking. Prer., a B.A. in any LAS field. Meets with PHIL 3720.

A thorough study of a single philosophical problem, system or single philosopher. Variable content. Meets with PHIL 4910.

Detailed examination of a special topic taken from the history of philosophy which is not covered by the regular departmental course offerings. Variable content. Prer., Consent of instructor. Meets with PHIL 4930.

Prer., Prior consent of faculty required.

Intended to give an opportunity for advanced students with good scholastic records and with appropriate courses completed to pursue independently the study of some subject of special interest. Subjects are chosen and arrangements are made to suit the needs of each student. Prer., Consent of instructor.

Ethical dimensions of the patient-physician relationship and the impact of medical technology. Topics include informed consent and experimentation with human subjects, technological manipulation of medical resources, genetic screening in the workplace, and genetic engineering. Meets with PHIL 3130.

Introduces students to decision theory and game theory. Topics will include rationality; strategic reasoning; Nash equilibria; strategic games; symmetric and non-symmetric games; coalitions and cooperation; zero and non-zero-sum games; and, prisoner’s dilemmas. Prer., PHIL 3440 or MATH 1040. Meets with PHIL 4440.